Fantasy Premier League: The best FPL picks for Gameweek 3

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A generally lower-scoring Gameweek 2 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) brought nothing from highly-owned stars like Marcus Rashford (£9.0m), Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) and Bukayo Saka (£8.6m).

Over 2.6 million managers were frustrated once again by defender Gabriel (£4.9m) sitting on Arsenal’s bench, whilst big hauls arrived from midfielders Bryan Mbeumo (£6.7m) and Kaoru Mitoma (£6.6m).

Gameweek 3 is headlined by Newcastle v Liverpool but FPL managers will be optimistic about the nice-looking Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United fixtures.

With this in mind, let’s check in on three players ahead of Friday’s 6:30 pm deadline (UK time) – the best captain, this week’s most-bought asset and an intriguing differential.

Erling Haaland (£14.0m, Manchester City)

Heading into Gameweek 2, there was a Barbenheimer-type situation brewing between those who captained Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) and those FPL bosses without the Egyptian who gave Haaland the armband.

Many metaphorical sofas were hidden behind, some literal ones to – only for both elite FPL assets to disappoint. Haaland blanked versus Newcastle and Salah missed a penalty before converting the rebound, ending on just five points.

This time, the captaincy feels more straightforward. Haaland broke the all-time Premier League record for individual goals in a season and netted twice at Burnley on the opening night. Now he travels to another newly-promoted side, Sheffield United.

On the other hand, it should be noted that the Burnley brace was the only occasion he’s scored in nine competitive Man City matches. That run stretches back to the end of 2022/23, over several finals. Losing Kevin De Bruyne (£10.3m) as a provider will hurt, although there’s hope that Phil Foden (£7.6m) will finally get a strong run in that position.

Bryan Mbeumo (£6.7m, Brentford)

At the time of writing, Mbeumo is set to be the most-bought player ahead of Gameweek 3, with over 700,000 purchases.

He was initially a popular pre-season pick until picking up a knock during a friendly. This yellow flag reduced him to just 717,000 squads for his Gameweek 1 goal versus Spurs. By following this up with two more at Fulham – including another penalty – he’s joint top-scorer with Solly March (£6.6m) and about to face the likes of Bournemouth, Everton, Nottingham Forest and Burnley by Gameweek 9.

Nobody else has exceeded his four big chances, with an expected goals (xG) tally that’s almost twice that of second place. In fact, this 3.26 number says that the Cameroon international is underachieving! The next-best figure of 1.71 belongs to Brentford team-mate Yoane Wissa (£6.1m), as the pair continue to excel in the absence of Ivan Toney (£8.0m).

Brentford's last seven Premier League games without Ivan Toney:

Bryan Mbeumo goals: ️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️ (7)
Yoane Wissa goals: ️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️ (6) pic.twitter.com/o9a3FDaQg6

— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) August 19, 2023

Raheem Sterling (£7.0m, Chelsea)

A great fixture run looks set to start for Chelsea and, whilst Ben Chilwell (£5.7m) and Nicolas Jackson (£7.0m) have amassed decent ownership, Sterling is in just 2.5% of squads.

Lively against West Ham, the well-established Sterling has huge differential potential due to having the league’s most penalty area touches (22) so far.

The winger began this season with a huge price drop: £7.0m is way down from last year’s £10.0m and the four previous starting prices, which were all at least £11.0m. While a poor campaign by his own standards, Sterling still ended with the Blues’ most attacking returns (10).

So, as a likely starter at home to Luton, Sterling could be a great alternative to centre-forward Jackson.

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